breed·ing

(brē′dĭng)

1. One's line of descent; ancestry: a person of noble breeding.

2. Upbringing or education, especially in proper social behavior.

3. The production of offspring or young: measures to control the breeding of mosquitoes.

4. The propagation of animals or plants: a farm devoted to the breeding of horses.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

breeding

(ˈbriːdɪŋ)

1. the process of bearing offspring; reproduction

2. (Genetics) the process of producing plants or animals by sexual reproduction

3. the result of good training, esp the knowledge of correct social behaviour; refinement: a man of breeding.

4. a person's line of descent: his breeding was suspect.

5. (Nuclear Physics) physics a process occurring in a nuclear reactor as a result of which more fissionable material is produced than is used up

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

breed•ing

(ˈbri dɪŋ)

n.

1. the producing of offspring.

2. the improvement of breeds of livestock, as by selective mating and hybridization.

3. the production of new forms of plants by selection, crossing, and hybridizing.

4. training; nurture.

5. the result of upbringing or training as shown in behavior, esp. in good manners.

[1250–1300]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	breeding - elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression genteelness, gentility elegance - a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste; "she conveys an aura of elegance and gentility"
	2.	breeding - the result of good upbringing (especially knowledge of correct social behavior); "a woman of breeding and refinement" training, education upbringing - properties acquired during a person's formative years
	3.	breeding - helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community; "they debated whether nature or nurture was more important" bringing up, fosterage, fostering, nurture, rearing, upbringing, raising acculturation, enculturation, socialisation, socialization - the adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture; "the socialization of children to the norms of their culture"
	4.	breeding - the production of animals or plants by inbreeding or hybridization production - (economics) manufacturing or mining or growing something (usually in large quantities) for sale; "he introduced more efficient methods of production" autosexing - (especially of domestic fowl) breeding to reveal differential sex characteristics at hatching cattle breeding - breeding cattle dog breeding - breeding dogs horse breeding - breeding horses
	5.	breeding - the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring facts of life, procreation, reproduction sex activity, sexual activity, sexual practice - activities associated with sexual intercourse; "they had sex in the back seat" miscegenation, crossbreeding, interbreeding - reproduction by parents of different races (especially by white and non-white persons) multiplication, propagation, generation - the act of producing offspring or multiplying by such production
Adj.	1.	breeding - producing offspring or set aside especially for producing offspring; "the breeding population"; "retained a few bulls for breeding purposes" fruitful - productive or conducive to producing in abundance; "be fruitful and multiply"

breeding

noun

1. refinement, style, culture, taste, manners, polish, grace, courtesy, elegance, sophistication, delicacy, cultivation, politeness, civility, gentility, graciousness, urbanity, politesse men of low birth and no breeding

2. rearing, raising, nurturing There is potential for selective breeding for better yields.

3. reproduction, mating, reproducing, multiplying, propagation, procreation During the breeding season the birds come ashore.

Proverbs
"You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

breeding

noun

The process by which an organism produces others of its kind:

multiplication, procreation, proliferation, propagation, reproduction, spawning.

Obsolete: increase.

Translations

تَرْبِيَه، تَهْذيب

vychovánízpůsoby

dannelsegode manerer

Benehmen Haltung

cría crianza educación modales

éducation surgénération

uppeldi; siîun

allevamento educazione

dannelse gode manerer

воспитание

razmnoževanje

yetişme

教养

breeding

[ˈbriːdɪŋ]

A. N

1. (Bio) → reproducción f

2. [of stock] → cría f

3. [of person] (also good breeding) → educación f, crianza f
bad breeding; ill breeding → mala crianza f, falta f de educación
he has (good) breeding → es una persona educada
it shows bad breeding → muestra una falta de educación

B. CPD breeding ground N (Bio) → lugar m de cría (fig) → caldo m de cultivo (of, for de, para) breeding season N → época f de reproducción

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

breeding

[ˈbriːdɪŋ]

[animals] → élevage m

[plants] → production f

(by animals) → reproduction f

(= politeness) → bonnes manières fpl

adj

[bird, animal] → reproducteur/trice breeding pair, breeding seasonbreeding ground n

(for terrorism, corruption, scandal) → terreau m
a breeding ground for sth → un terreau pour qch
London has become a breeding ground for terrorists
BUT Londres est devenu un terreau fertile pour les terroristes.

[talent] → pépinière f
a breeding ground for talent → une pépinière de talents

(for bacteria, germs) → terrain m propice; (for mosquitoes) → zone f de reproduction
a breeding ground for → un terrain propice àbreeding pair n → couple m reproducteurbreeding season n → saison f des amoursbreeding stock n → animaux mpl élevés en vue de la reproduction

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

breeding

(= reproduction) → Fortpflanzung und Aufzucht f → der Jungen

(= rearing) → Zucht f

(= upbringing, good manners: also good breeding) → gute Erziehung, Kinderstube f

breeding

breeding ground, breeding place

n (lit, fig) → Brutstätte f

breeding season

n (of birds) → Brutzeit f; (of animal) → Zeit f → der Fortpflanzung und Aufzucht der Jungen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

breeding

[ˈbriːdɪŋ] n (of stock) → allevamento; (reproduction) → riproduzione f; (of person) (also good breeding) → (buona) educazione f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

breed

(briːd) – past tense, past participle bred (bred) – verb

1. to produce young. Rabbits breed often.

2. to keep animals for the purpose of breeding young. I breed dogs and sell them as pets.

noun

a type, variety or species (of animal). a breed of dog.

bred (bred) adjective

(often as part of a word).

1. (of people) brought up in a certain way or place. a well-bred young lady; American born and bred.

2. (of animals) brought up or reared in a certain way. a pure-bred dog.

ˈbreeding noun

education and training; good manners. a man of good breeding.

breed·ing

n. cria, crianza.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

When, on the one hand, we see domesticated animals and plants, though often weak and sickly, yet breeding quite freely under confinement; and when, on the other hand, we see individuals, though taken young from a state of nature, perfectly tamed, long-lived, and healthy (of which I could give numerous instances), yet having their reproductive system so seriously affected by unperceived causes as to fail in acting, we need not be surprised at this system, when it does act under confinement, acting not quite regularly, and producing offspring not perfectly like their parents or variable.

The supposed aboriginal stocks must all have been rock-pigeons, that is, not breeding or willingly perching on trees.

View in context

And this is the explanation of the name (TOKOS), which means the breeding of money.

View in context

It seems at first strange that it can answer to kill mares for such a trifle; but as it is thought ridiculous in this country ever to break in or ride a mare, they are of no value except for breeding. The only thing for which I ever saw mares used, was to tread out wheat from the ear, for which purpose they were driven round a circular enclosure, where the wheat-sheaves were strewed.

View in context

Previously to July, 1830, this estimable class of citizens had not dared to indulge their native tastes for extravagance and parade, the grave dignity and high breeding of a very ancient but impoverished nobility holding them in some restraint; and, then, THEIR fortunes were still uncertain; the funds were not firm, and even the honorable and worthy Jacques Lafitte, a man to ennoble any calling, was shaking in credit.

View in context

The complement of this graceful self-respect, and that of all the points of good breeding I most require and insist upon, is deference.

It is not quite sufficient to good- breeding, a union of kindness and independence.

Because elegance comes of no breeding, but of birth.

View in context

Now, I beseech you, do tell me, have you ever attended to their pairing and breeding?

And if care was not taken in the breeding, your dogs and birds would greatly deteriorate?

View in context

Zoos will say, `Well, we can't use them for breeding anymore, so if they're done with them, they'll dump them."

Reinventing the zoo: it's no longer enough to put endangered species on display and call it conservation

"We should not be breeding animals just for the sake of then eating them."

Uproar over 'eat rare breeds' call